In a sense, Phil Mickelson has been all things to all people in San Diego.

He is a true native, the middle-class kid who grew up in San Carlos, picking up balls from the scruffy Mission Trails Golf Course, and achieving so much in his life and his career that he has his own golf holes in his yard in Rancho Santa Fe.

He is a quiet hero to children around the county, who have received shoes and clothes and book bags as they prepared for their new school years.

And ultimately, he is Our Phil – the greatest golfer produced by a city that has probably churned out more great ones than any other place in the country.

Mickey Wright won 13 majors and 82 LPGA events, and Billy Casper captured three majors and 51 PGA Tour titles. Both incredible talents. But they are 1a and 1b on the list compared to Mickelson, who has played with a flair, unpredictability and artistry that few golfers of any era have matched.

In his league in the past 50 years are probably only two others: Arnold Palmer and Mickelson’s own idol, Seve Ballesteros.

The greatest player of Mickelson’s time, of course, is Tiger Woods, with 14 major titles and 79 career victories to Mickelson’s five majors and 42 wins. But, if anything, Woods’ temperament, aloofness with fans and off-course troubles have only served to boost the popularity of Mickelson, who can pull off goofy, cerebral, brilliant, and flawed – all while signing hundreds of autographs a week.

Philip Alfred Mickelson

Born: June 16, 1970 in San Diego

San Diego impact: Raised in San Carlos, where his father, Phil, built a golf hole in the backyard, Mickelson had a standout career in San Diego Junior Golf (he won the Boys 9-10 Junior World title in 1980) and at University of San Diego High. His first victory as a pro came in the 1993 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines; he won the tournament twice more in 2000-01. He also twice captured the Mercedes Championships at La Costa. Mickelson’s redesign plans for the Torrey Pines North Course will be carried out in 2015.

Achievements: Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012, Mickelson has 42 PGA Tour victories, 51 wins worldwide and five major championships – three Masters, one PGA and one British Open. As an amateur, he won the 1990 U.S. Amateur and three NCAA titles while playing for Arizona State.

Did you know? His nickname is “Lefty,” though the only thing he does left-handed is play golf, because he mirrored his father’s swing as a child. … No American golfer has played in more team competitions than Mickelson. He owns the U.S. record for appearances and matches played in both the Ryder Cup (9, 38) and Presidents Cup (10, 47).

At 43, Mickelson over the last decade has dealt with his own diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis, wife Amy’s and mother Mary’s battles with breast cancer, and health scares among his children. And over that same time on the course he’s won all of his majors – three Masters, one PGA, and last year’s wholly unexpected victory in the British Open at Muirfield, where he closed with a 66, calling it “the round of my life.”

The British win, along with putting Mickelson on a higher pedestal in Great Britain, moved him into a group of only 15 pros who have seized three of golf’s four major championships – the achingly elusive one being the U.S. Open.

For a record six times Mickelson has finished second in the national championship – none of those more crushing than his final-hole collapse in 2006 at Winged Foot, where he famously proclaimed afterward, “I am such an idiot.”

Mickelson has entertained golf reporters and his fans with such interesting choices as playing with two drivers in the Masters and no driver in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He created controversy with an off-the-cuff remark about Woods’ Nike equipment and his stance on taxes. He’s never been afraid to tweak the noses of golf’s governing bodies if he perceived injustices.

"Phil is brilliant, but he's nuts,” CBS commentator and former player David Feherty has said. “There's something not quite right about that boy. Phil is watching a movie that only Phil can see.”

That’s a good thing, too, because maybe Mickelson wouldn’t try shots like he did on the 13th hole at Augusta National in 2010, when his 6-iron from the pine straw and through the trees found the green en route to his third green jacket.

Phil’s greatest shot? Maybe. There are a bucket full from which to choose.